Heroes of War
by Cloudspi
Summary: A towns nobody, is dispatched to war after vigorous training at the worlds finest training grounds, Fairy Tail. Going against the brutal experiences of the enemies tortures. A young lady who ran away from home to assist the wounded in battle, meets him and helps him through his worst nightmares.


Travelling Soldier

Cloudspi

The announcement called out all across the field. A few exclamations and whispers were heard here and there around the field and quietened down to let the man in the uniform speak. The soldier spoke with authority and reached into a ballet box. Within the box held individual notes with the years ranging from 1990 to the current date, ten random notes were selected and called out across the field, the once silent crowd broke out into loud chattering like sparrows early in the morning were heard from the families; mainly the mothers crying for their children . A young man pushed his way through the crowd, marching straight to the veteran who sat at the desk. Whispers were heard as he walked past.

"Dad, who is he?" A squeaky voice inquired to a middle aged man.

"Hey Wakaba, isnt that young man the one who was orphaned years back?" the dark haired man inquired turning to his smoking friend.

"Hm? Yeah he certainly looks like him, he won't make it past the first few weeks" Wakaba replied to his friend of many years letting out a puff of smoke as he spoke, teeth gritting down on the smoke pipe.

Ignoring their conversation, he continued towards the front. He was one of the young men who was called out. Walking over to the table that was set up he stood in front of an elderly man with many badges adorned on his jacket, obviously a man who fought many wars and was highly respected.

"Name?" The man said with a monotonous voice

"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel" the young fellow replied. He was a man with very distinguishable pink hair and scaly scarf wrapped loosely around his neck.

"Family?"

"None, sir"

Writing down the details he was just informed of, sighing shifting his gaze to the man in front of him. The elderly man looked up to him giving him a sympathetic look. A look Natsu had gotten quite frequently over the years, to say the least he grown to ignore the look.

"Alright, Natsu, you see that bus over there" gesturing towards a silver tin can of a bus. "That'll be leaving soon, so I suggest you go home and-"

"I don't have anything to pack, just what I have on me, Sir" he interrupted him.

"Very well, head straight on to the bus. You'll be going to boot camp for training"

Nastu thanked the man and headed towards the bus weaving through the dispersing crowd, minding his own business that is until someone stepped out in front of him causing their shoulders to bump, as Natsu tried to dodge the sudden movement.

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

A deep voice called out behind him. Nastu came to a stop and looked over his shoulder. A man with short dark messy hair stood there with his back towards him.

"Eh? What'd you say?"

"You heard me"

"Why should I say I'm sorry when your the one who stepped out in front of me shit brain"

"What did you say to me?" The man turned around and took in the strangers features. The most outstanding one was his hair. He tried to stifle a laugh but failed and broke into a laughing fit.

"What's with the sudden mood change?"

"Pfft! Y-your h-hair!"

"What about it?! Other people have salmon hair too!"

"Salmon?! What are you colour blind? It's pink, moron!"

"Salmon!"

"Pink!"

"Alright ladies, are you two done bickering? I'm assuming you're getting on this tin can!" A loud voice thundered. Both men turned to see a buff blonde young man stepping up on the buses steps.

The two young men glanced at each other and simultaneously ran towards to bus pushing and shoving one another. Once on the bus, they noticed it was packed full of people and there was only one of a two seat remaining. Natsu took the lead by shoving the man aside and he list his balance from the sudden push and fell onto a blunette who squealed and pushed him off.

"Oi! Pinkie what the hell was that for?!" The man yelled rising to his feet gaining his bearings once again.

"Talk to me when you have a shirt on, you stripper" Natsu mockingly replied.

"Huh?" The man looked down and noticed he was missing his shirt. "Gawh! Not again!" He looked left then right and noticed the girl he fell on earlier had his shirt neatly folded and held out to him.

"Juvia believes this belongs to you" the blunette said with outstretched arms and a slight blush upon her face.

"Ah, thanks...Juvia?"

"How does the stranger know Juvia's name?"

"Do you always speak in third person?" He countered.

Natsu watched as the girl only blushed harder and spun around to return to her seat, next to a gruff man with long black shaggy hair, which seemed to point in every direction, reminding him of a porcupine. The man seemed disinterested in the occurrences around him, and simply rested his head against the window, elbow assisting in keeping the head upright. Natsu watched in amazement as the black haired man seemed to instantly fall asleep letting out loud thunderous snores. If he could describe his snores, he would definitely say they ear splitting. Nodding in agreement to himself that those words were appropriate for him, he continued down the narrow aisle of the bus. Once he had reached the desired seat he took the opportunity to snatch the window seat before the man who he had given the name "stripper" to. Feeling proud that he got to it first he glanced towards the front hoping to catch Gray's attention to mock him that he got the seat before him. But instead he found that a lean man in a suit was making his way towards him instead.

"May I take the seat next to you?" He politely asked.

Natsu replied a quick approval before shifting his way closer to the window to make room for the polite stranger. Glancing in his direction he took in his appearance. The suit was definitely a shock compared to the rest of the buses attire. A bright red tie snaked around his neck. He either had a keen sense of style or was from a wealthy family. He decided it was the latter, since he would never personally want to wear that monkey suit day after day. Unless of course he was trying to keep up a public appearance. To match his outstanding tie, his ginger hair seemed to complete his overall appearance. Blue tinted glasses shaded his eyes and rested peacefully upon the bridge of his nose.

Before having the chance to change his point of vision back to the window, a hand was extended. Following the arm back to its body, he had realized that it belonged to the ginger boy.

"Loke is the name. Friends called me Leo."

Taking the hand to return the gesture, Natsu also introduced himself.

"Why Leo?" He blurted out not soon after his introduction.

"Well only one fair maiden calls me Leo. Says my hair reminds her of the constellation of August, Leo, because it points out in every direction like a lions mane."

"Well now that you point it out I can see why she calls you that"

"Quite childish, would you believe that she can read the stars like a book. She gave me the nickname when we were in our early years. Childhood friends you see."

"Ah. You speak quite fondly of her, is she your girlfriend or somethin'?"

"Unrequited love if anything. She wouldn't return the feelings no matter how hard I try. Just not that interested I suppose."

"You? She refused you? Of all people, how could she!" He joked.

"Finally! Someone recognizes my pain. Someone this handsome, usually no woman would refuse but she is something different."

"Speaking of which there she is!" Loke called out pointing to the crowd.

The outburst had earned the attention of the entire bus. There eyes were guided to a blonde in a pink dress with her hair up tied in a tight bun. Wolf whistles were sung by the other men on the bus. Natsu however didn't look over in time and only got a glimpse of her walking through the crowd following a man in a brown suit, presumebly her father.

"She's pretty isn't she?" Loke questioned more to himself.

"Yeah I guess" Natsu nonchalantly replied.

"You guess?! Her smile is brighter than a thousand suns!"

Natsu blocked out the rest off the mans comments about her beauty. Continuing to gaze out the window of her figure slowly making its way through the crowd headed towards a limo in the distance. The ride to camp was going to be a long hot one.

* * *

Upon arroving at the camp, Natsu had been shaken awake by his companion who sat next to him throughout the duration of the 5 hour trip.

"Natsu wake up, we're here!"

"Where is here?" Natsu replied rubbing the sleep out of his eyes"

"Were you even listening back at Magnolia? We're at the worlds finest training facility, Fairy Tail grounds"

"Fairy Tail?"

"Despite the name, some of the strongest soldiers are trained here. Have you heard of Laxus at least?" Loke stood up after allowing people to pass.

"Can't say I have" Natsu rose to his feet following the man down the runway of the bus.

"Where have you been all your life? Under a rock? Laxus is the grandson of the man who runs this place, and he is the quickest bullet in the country, and by bullet I mean you do not want to be one the opposite end of the barrel of the gun. There is no chance you'd survive his quick shot."

"You've certainly done your research lion boy" Natsu said stepping off the bus into the harsh sunlight, shading his eyes.

"That is only the extent of what I know, I hear that theres a young girl who is quite knowledgeable. If I knew who she was I'd probably go ask her for information and inquiries. She should be in the group with us. Speaking of which look at all the pretty ladies who have made it here today with us!"

Chuckling at the mans adsurd ways, he watched him bounce his way over to a crowd of women, wrapping his arms around a snow haired and a red head. The white haired girl squeaked in surprise when the red head girl punched Loke in what looked like his abdominals and fell to the ground motionless. Taking a mental note not to get one her badside he made his way over to his friend. The dark haired man before had also approached, lifting up the mans arm amd wrapping it around his shoulder. Natsu mimicing what he had done with the opposite arm.

"This guy your's?"

"Somewhat. The names Loke."

"Loke doesn't suit your hair at all"

"Not mine his!" Natsu yelled in defence.

"Hm no matter, Gray Fullbuster is what they call me"

Looking skeptically over to the man who had argued with him earlier.

Gray had caught his glare from the corner of his eye

"What? Thought we'd get on better grounds since you might save my arse one day"

"Natsu Dragneel" Natsu introduced.

"Looks like we'd better drag this one over to the hall, that's where everyone else is going"

"Yeah seems like it"

Once they entered the hall they were rushed into seats and hushed by generals. A stage and mircophone was upfront. The blonde man from the bus stormed up on stage.

"Listen up grunts, this here is no game, nor a holiday. What you will experience will be stuck with you for life. If blood makes you feel sick then you'd better get used to it real quick. Red will become your least and favourite colour. That is if you survive training. You will not go to war unprepared, that is why you are trained here. There are three people who will be barking down your throats each and every day from dusk to dawn. Myself is one of them. The nurses station is right outside, opposite of this hall. Mira is head nurse and will be training the next fleet of nurses to go to warzones to help there. If I make myself clear shout yes sir"

The audience obeyed his instructions shouting yes sir loud and clearly.

"Good now get out of here, you have work to do"

Everyone piled out of the hall. Natsu, Gray and Loke were one of the last to exit because Loke was still unconsciousand had to be dragged out. Once they were out they observed a group of women make their way over to the nurses station, and a large group of men make their way to the field. A red head was standing infront of them with a blue haired man.

"Right runts form a single file line we have much to work on." The red haired woman started.

"First things first, the mess hall is behind us, sleeping quarters are the the left of you. You will meet here every morning before dawn for vigrous training. Then and only after you've completed that are you allowed to have breakfast. Your sleeping quarters are to be left in pristine conditions, beds are to be made each morning and up to standard. If they are not you will be staying behind till you get it right. Boots that are provided are to be polished each afternoon, not a speck of dirt is to be seen. Clothes are provided which are to be kept clean and pressed everyday. Lucky for you the nurses might assist you with this." The blue man followed pacing up and down the line of people.

"You are to address us as General Scarlet and General Fernandez, do we make ourselves clear?" Scarlet finished.

"Yes sir!" They bellowed all at different times.

"We'll work on that" Fernandez stated.

"Off to your sleeping quarters now to make beds and get ready for a long day. You have 10 minutes."

The group disbanded and headed off to the destination. Gray, Natsu and Loke, who had woken up halfway through the speech, made their way quickly towards the sleeping quarters.


End file.
